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Monday, January 23, 2017

Thank You, ALA Youth Media Awards

I have been in the Twitterverse for several years now, although I was a latecomer. I remember my first winter of tweeting. We had several snow days in the middle of my obsession stage. I was hooked. I was addicted.

I loved finding and following like-minded, positive people who shared all things literacy. Literacy is the only reason I tweet. Twitter has changed my teaching life because of the connections I have made with other teachers around the world who share a common passion. The connections I have made are invaluable, and I wish more of my colleagues would join.

But that has all changed lately. The majority of my Twitter feed is no longer filled with literacy links, book recommendations, blog posts with great teaching ideas, or inspirational messages for teachers...as it used to be.

I miss it.

Now it seems as if I have to sift through so much negativity just to find the positive.

It drains me.

I have always believed that one must surround themselves with positive people.

I still do.

Today was one of those days surrounded by positive people. My Twitter feed was filled with tweets about the ALA Youth Media Awards. Congratulating winners and sharing titles of winning books and pictures of librarians and teachers and authors celebrating our shared passion - the love of reading.

For one day, I was able to pause and once again, experience that excitement about literacy.

5 comments:

I was thinking the same, exact thing about all social media lately. I have found the "unfollow" button to be quite useful. We need more positivity in this world. I'm glad that I can always count on you for that.

This post is a perfect reflection of my thinking all week! It feels like the world around me is becoming more and more divided (especially on social media), and yesterday's buzz around books was the perfect reprieve. It was exactly as you said--a breath of fresh air!

My Twitter feed had definitely become more political since November but, I think it reflects the climate in our country under the new administration, where everything, including truth and education, is under attack.